Re: Physician specialty for swallow difficulties after stroke

My father had a stroke July 4, 1999 - since then he has not been able to swallow. They placed a peg in his stomach - but he aspirates everything from his stomach to his lungs - and ends up with pneumonia. They moved the peg into his intestine - which he still aspirated into lungs. He is currently on an IV - but Dr. says there is great risk with prolonged IV feeding. Does anyone know of another Dr. we might consult in the Minnesota area for another opinion on what might be done next. His current Dr. seems to have given up on further recovery.

: : My dad had a stroke April 26. It was a major : stroke on the right side of the brain. He is : paralyzed on the right side. There has been some : improvement since. Saturday, he crinkled his toes : on the left side and moved his left leg slightly : to the right. He is, however, still on the peg : tube and has extreme difficulty swallowing. He : cannot move by himself from the bed to the : wheelchair. My mother cannot, naturally, move him : at all. It takes two people to move him. (He : weighs about 178 pounds) His blood sugar has been : flunctuating constantly since the stroke. he is : very tired and sleeps a lot. The doctor did change : some of his medication and Saturday he was more : alert for a longer period of time. Now the social : worker at the hospital is constantly pushing for : his release to a nursing home. He is currently in : a skilled care unit of a local hospital and : receives PT, OT and Speech Therapy at least twice : a day. He is making progress but it is slow. The : staff of the hospital siad his goal was to be : walking with a walker by May 11. This seems : unrealistic because of the severity of his stroke. : Now I need advice. Has anyone ever taken their : stoke patient home? What kind of help did you : receive? Was their someone at the house : constantly to take care of the patient? How did : this affect the main caretaker? Did you have any : regrets? Or should we consider a nursing home : with a skilled care unit? I am really afraid that : if we place him in the nursing home, he will give : up. My dad was always very active and took care : of everyone, especially my mother. He even walked : into the hospital the day of the stroke. He wants : to go home. We want what is best for him and his : recovery. Please help. Thank you.

: I know what you are going through my father also had a stroke in Mar 99. The injury was to the right side of the brain effecting his left arm and leg movements. He was place in three hospitals in the last four months and I had the difficult choice of placing him in a nursing home. I choose one that was also a skilled facility. Thank God my father has excellent insurance benifits because it allowed him to continue his rehab (even though I would have to fight,beg and plead for them to continue to pay. I find most insurace companies want to play doctor (and mostly they control the hospital stay) they seem to set the ficticious dates on when someone should recover, but they are not doctors so I would stay in contact with your fathers doctor faithfully, and make sure that are straight with you on your fathers health. : My father has been in a nursing home for about a month now (most insurances will cover if the doctor request rehab) and he is doing much better he is starting to walk with a cane and although his mind goes in and out that thats really hard to deal with also, I would like to try him at home, to see if he would get better, I am very scared, and always streesed out but through prayer I am making it. Even though it may not seem like it, it will get better renee